The inventive concept relates generally to electronic memory technologies. More particularly, certain embodiments of the inventive concept relate to memory devices and related methods of operation.
Certain types of memory devices can be read by applying a predetermined read voltage to one or more memory cells and detecting respective states of the memory cells when receiving the predetermined read voltage. For instance, certain types of nonvolatile memory devices can be read by applying a read voltage to at least one terminal of each memory cell and determining whether each memory cell assumes an “on” state or an “off” state when receiving the predetermined read voltage.
One potential shortcoming of reading a memory device in the above manner is that different memory cells may respond differently to the predetermined read voltage. For instance, some memory cells may require a higher read voltage in order to assume the “on” state due to differing amounts of usage or electrical noise, for instance. This shortcoming can lead to read errors.
Due to the above and other shortcomings of conventional read methods, researchers continue to devote resources to the problem of ensuring that a proper read voltage is applied to memory cells during read operations.